Alyn Ware
Congresswoman Dina Titus (NV-01) today introduced the Renewing Efforts to Suspend Testing and Reinforce Arms Control Initiatives Now (RESTRAIN) Act to prohibit the United States from conducting explosive testing of nuclear weapons after President Trump announced this week that the Department of Defense would resume nuclear testing immediately.
“Donald Trump has put his own ego and authoritarian ambitions above the health and safety of Nevadans,” said Congresswoman Titus. “His announcement to resume nuclear testing in the United States goes against the arms control and nonproliferation treaties that the U.S. has spearheaded since the end of the Cold War, and will trigger new tests by Russia and China, reigniting an international arms race. It also puts Nevadans back in the crosshairs of toxic radiation and environmental destruction. With just 97 days until the only arms control agreement between the U.S. and Russia expires, now should be the time to negotiate further arms-control agreements, not create mushroom clouds in the Nevada desert.”
The RESTRAIN Act amends U.S. Code to insert a prohibition of explosive nuclear testing while simultaneously preventing any funding from going toward the Trump Administration’s effort to conduct explosive nuclear tests.
Under the Trump Administration, there has been an unprecedented overhaul of nuclear policy. Project 2025, the Trump Administration’s governing document, calls for the rejection of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. The Trump Administration also has not committed to renewing the NEW START Treaty — the last remaining arms control agreement between the United States and Russia that expires in three months. Meanwhile, the Secretary of Energy announced that he was furloughing much of the DOE direct hires at the National Nuclear Security Administration who work to safeguard our nuclear stockpile.
“These developments set the stage for nuclear testing here at home and will give the green light to other nuclear powers to do the same,” Congresswoman Titus said. “The result would put the country on a collision course of catastrophic proportions with Russia and China, undermine the entire arms control regime, allow the proliferation of these weapons to non-nuclear states, and put the health and safety of Nevadans once again in jeopardy.”
As an expert on the history of nuclear weaponry and author of Bombs in the Backyard, Congresswoman Titus has been a fierce advocate for nuclear nonproliferation. In 2020, when the Trump Administration called for a resumption of nuclear testing in breach of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, Congresswoman Titus led the charge in the FY21 NDAA process to ensure that explosive nuclear testing could not be resurrected in the United States. She has also applauded state and local efforts to prevent testing, including a recently passed resolution in the state legislation urging the federal government to maintain the moratorium on the issue. Rep. Titus’s persistent challenge of nuclear weapons testing reflects the overwhelming opinion of Nevadans, according to Searchlight Research.
“The resumption of explosive nuclear testing in the United States would be a costly waste that will only advantage China and Russia,” said Esther Im, Senior Peace and Security Policy Advisor at Foreign Policy for America. “Given our technical superiority, the United States has little to gain from restarting testing, but by breaking the 30-year testing taboo, we’d be opening the door for China and Russia to follow suit and begin to narrow the gap. Why would we spend hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to cede this advantage?”
“We applaud Rep. Titus for reinforcing what we all know to be true: the United States has no technical or strategic reason to conduct an explosive nuclear weapons test. At a time when the last remaining strategic arms control treaty between the United States and Russia will expire in less than 100 days, resumption of explosive nuclear weapons testing would be detrimental to U.S. national security and send us down a path towards a dangerous and costly nuclear arms race,” said former Congressman John Tierney, Executive Director of Council for a Livable World.
“There is no technical, national security, or political reason for the US to resume nuclear explosive testing. If Russia, China, India, Pakistan resume nuclear testing because the US is ready to abandon the testing moratorium of the last 30 years, those countries will develop new types of warheads, and close down the scientific and technical advantage the US has always enjoyed in warhead design. It would be a net detriment to US national security,” said Thomas Countryman, former acting Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security and former Assistant Secretary of State for International Security and Nonproliferation.
“Nuclear explosive testing is a dangerous vestige of the past. There is no technical or military reason to abandon the 33 year-long moratorium on U.S. nuclear testing. By foolishly announcing his intention to resume nuclear explosive testing of some kind simply for the purpose of sending signals to adversaries, Trump will trigger strong international opposition that could unleash a dangerous chain reaction of nuclear testing by U.S. adversaries, and blow apart the nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty,” warns Daryl G. Kimball, director of the nonpartisan, nongovernmental Arms Control Association. “The U.S. Congress, at the behest of the American people, led the way in 1991-1992 to halt U.S. nuclear testing and it is critical the Congress rally behind Rep. Dina Titus and Nevadans to block any attempts to resume nuclear explosive testing by the federal government in Nevada, or by any other government anywhere in the world.”
“The President’s recent post is unclear about the nature of testing he’s calling for, but there is no good reason for the United States to resume explosive nuclear testing, and it would actually make everyone in the U.S. less safe. The U.S. has so much to lose and so little to gain from resuming testing. We applaud Rep. Titus for advancing this sensible legislation,” said Tara Drozdenko, Director of the Global Security Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists.
“Real security does not come from more nuclear explosions, but from preventing the use of nuclear weapons altogether. The U.S. should reaffirm its commitment to the nuclear testing moratorium and pursue diplomatic efforts that prioritize arms control,” said Allen Hester, Legislative Representative for Nuclear Disbarment and Pentagon Spending at the Friends Committee on National Legislation.
The RESTRAIN Act is endorsed by the Union of Concerned Scientists, Foreign Policy for America, Council for a Livable World, Arms Control Association, and Friends Committee on National Legislation.
Alyn Ware is a New Zealand peace educator and campaigner in the areas of peace, non-violence, nuclear abolition, international law, women’s rights, children’s rights and the environment.
This article was sent on October 31, 2025 to Daryl G. Kimbal, executive director of Arms Control Association, on behalf of Alyn Ware.